Man found dead in Burlingame apartment, roommate arrested

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A Burlingame man has been arrested after police found his 70-year-old roommate dead in their apartment Thursday.

The victim, identified by the San Mateo County coroner’s office as Joseph Cosentino, was found in an apartment in the 1900 block of Garden Drive after police received a phone tip around 3 p.m. Thursday from an acquaintance of the suspect, said police Capt. Mike Matteucci.

The caller said Lawrence Arthur Hoffman, 64, had told him that he had recently killed his roommate in Burlingame. The caller was able to provide the suspect’s name, but did not have a name or address for the victim, Matteucci said.

Police located Cosentino in the apartment later Thursday evening and determined that he had died within the past week as a result of foul play, although an official time and cause of death are still pending, Matteucci said.

Cosentino and Hoffman had been roommates for about three months, police said.

Hoffman was tracked to a hotel in Glendale and arrested on suspicion of murder. He has since been brought back to the Bay Area and booked into San Mateo County Jail.